Todd Archer

CeeDee Lamb was asked about a “heightened awareness,” this week for the Cowboys because Arizona beat them last year. “I've never beat the Cardinals since I've been in the league, so that's kind of fair to say,” Lamb said. “I wouldn't say heightened focus, but it's definitely another take.” Arizona has won four straight (2020, ’22, ’23 and ’25) and three have been at AT&T Stadium. “They've always had more energy,” Lamb said. “Just coming out in the game, they're more excited regardless of if it was at 12 o'clock, Sunday night, Monday night. We played them in primetime, they beat us there. So just coming in, treating them as if they are a Super Bowl contending team, which they may be, you know what I'm saying? So hats off to them in their prep and we just got to go match them, if not overpower them.”

Cowboys-Cardinals practice report

The Cowboys have the best kickoff coverage team in the league at the moment, allowing just 19.3 yards per return, 2 yards better than second-best Carolina. I asked coordinator Nick Sorensen about the demeanor that unit plays with and how he reacts on the sideline. It led to a lengthy, but good answer. “I think we all love it. Even when I was a kid and I wasn't even allowed to play football, I loved watching kickoff. Obviously, it was old school, you were kicking from the 30, but I remember watching games with my pops and we would always pick a guy, ‘Who's going to make the tackle here?’ We'd always get to pick a dude that we thought was going to make it. And to me it was always so exciting and I'm glad that we still have kickoff. Obviously, I coach special teams, but just I think it's one of the coolest, purest parts of the game and it's violent in the right kind of ways. And I just love when we don't get solo tackles. To me that says a lot about the entire coverage unit and the want-to, finish and cap off and just swarm the ball. “And that's what I think has been the coolest part is it's not just one guy making the play. It's usually a couple guys or if one guy gets doubled, the other guys are going to make it up. And that's been a cool part of the unit. They embrace it. They love it. And it's the first play of our defense. That's really the most important part. We want to have a better drive start at the end of the game on kickoff than our opponent. That's one of our goals, just like we want to have a better net punt than our opponent. Those are two of our main goals that we have each week because it's all about how we're going to win this game? We've talked about season ending, what puts you in top five. It's about how do we help us win the game? So for us, that's the first play of our defense and when those guys are flying around swarming, that energy is contagious.”

Was how the Cowboys played last week offensively vs. the Eagles specific to Philly or is that what they want to be every week? Klayton Adams: “The ultimate answer to that question I think is you want to be whatever you have to be to have more points than the other team. How you get there is going to be a somewhat unique path each week for who you're playing. But I do think that just in general, I've said this before, when you can run the ball … better than (the other team), I just think it makes your whole team better. I do. And that doesn't mean that you're going to need to have a certain amount of yards or whatever, but I think your defense feels it when you're running the ball well. I think your special teams feels it when you're running the ball well. I think the receivers appreciate it. It makes things a little bit easier.”

Coming off the best rushing performance of the year (204 yards), does coordinator Klayton Adams think offensive linemen would rather run block or pass block? “I don't want to speak for every offensive lineman who's ever lived, but pass protection in the NFL, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult things to do in all of professional sports. So I think guys like that, if you're a tackle, you like that you get paid for being able to do that. But at the end of the day, would I rather run forward and smash somebody or would I rather move backwards and get smashed? I'd rather move forward and smash somebody.”

With the return of DeMarvion Overshown and the emergence of Shemar James, Jaishawn Barham played just 21 snaps last week. Where does Barham stand now with an Adam Sadler movie reference from Christian Parker: “He's a rookie in the NFL, so there's going to still be some “50 First Dates” moments for him, just like any other rookie. That's any rookie - offense, defense, special teams, whatever. And the good thing about Jay is that very rarely does he continue to make the same mistakes. So when he gets scarred by something, he comes back. He keeps his confidence, keeps his aggression. We certainly know he's a significant player in the run game. He's versatile. He's improving his coverage aspect and just playing fast, but he has the right demeanor, he plays the game the right way and he's still a part of what we do.”

The Cowboys have given up touchdowns on the first drive of their last four games and in five of seven games overall. Coordinator Christian Parker on what needs to change: “I was actually studying that last night, the cut up for the first drive of each game and the first drive of the second half of each game. I think there's a couple different ways to look at it. I changed some things this week with how we practiced, how we met, how we walked through to try to jumpstart that process, going to try something different with our mock walkthrough on Saturday, just to make sure that we have that on the forefront of our mind, just with the execution and awareness to get those things done. And also with me just jumpstarting the group, if you will, with certain play style and how we're going to start the game.”

The Cowboys have opened the practice window for DT Jonathan Bullard. Last week it was Marist Liufau and PJ Locke. They have 52 players on roster at moment with Locke a possibility of getting activated off IR this week.

Caleb Downs with some resistance training before moving into individual drills. He’s dealing with an ankle issue but not expected to impact status for Sunday. Add TE Luke Schoonmaker (groin) to DNP list.

Cowboys practice report with a few interesting names

Asked Brian Schottenheimer about the end-of-half scenario between CeeDee Lamb’s 14-yard and 30-gard catches where time went off the clock. The Cowboys settled for a Brandon Aubrey FG and a 20-14 halftime lead. “We got the ball backed up. Our mindset was kind of, ‘Hey, let's move the ball. Let's go ensure we get some points.’ We want to end the half with some points or end it with the ball. We hit the short pass (to Lamb). We like to stay on the ball, that's kind of our deal. Why? We want to kind of put the onus on the defense, but we were a little slow getting that play executed, just getting lined up and getting it snapped. But that's one of the reasons why we're able to get the big play to CeeDee is they don't have time to talk about, ‘Hey, alert double moves,’ and things like that. So we hit CeeDee on the double move. I think we could have executed that play a little bit quicker, but we still got two shots at the end zone And when you look at it, come away with points starting on the 14-yard line I was pleased.”

Much was made of Brian Schottenheimer's short-answer press conference Monday night. Was he upset with that was written/said prior to the game? "No, I'll be honest I really do a good job of blocking you guys out. It was a big game for us. We're motivated as a football team, I'm motivated as a head coach to get our guys playing to the standard that I know they're capable of playing. Intense game against a real rival. But no, at the end of the day, in this business you get paid to deal with the criticism and things that come with the job ... I mean, remember you're talking to a guy that grew up for 25 years in a household with a head coach in the NFL. So, no, it was more just my focus was getting the team to be focused and motivated. And I think you saw that last night, so I'm proud of our group."

Rogers had been on IR.

Impressive stat of the game: the Cowboys ran 65 plays and did not have one lose yards.   According to ESPN Research, it’s the most plays the Cowboys have had in a game without a negative play since 2015 when they ran 69 in a loss to the Giants.

DeMarvion Overshown has been through some things. A torn ACL as a rookie. Three torn ligaments in his knee in his second year. A hamstring injury in this year’s season opener.   He returned against the Eagles and tied for the team lead with six tackles, had a tackle for loss, two pass deflections and a clinching interception in the fourth quarter.   “Definitely knowing what I bring to the table, knowing how we worked out all offseason and the team expecting me to be in there, I’m expecting myself to be in there and make plays that I made (Monday) and here in the future,” Overshown said. “It was definitely tough not getting the outcomes we wanted to, but now that I’m back, I’m able to play a bigger role and I can help with that. I’m not saying I’m just going to change everything, but I’m looking to make a huge impact.”

Dak Prescott wore a t-shirt postgame that read: Linemen lead the way.   They did against the Eagles.   Javonte Williams had a career-high 155 yards rushing. The Cowboys had 204 yards rushing as a team. Dak Prescott was not sacked and barely pressured.   “I think we did a great job just playing connected,” left guard Tyler Smith said. “I felt when the communication was clean and the points were on point, we were just moving guys at will. And I feel like that's who we are. I think that's our identity as offensive wise and we're going to continue to do well.”

Javonte Williams’ 155 rushing yards vs. the Eagles were the most by a Cowboy since Ezekiel Elliott had 159 against Tampa Bay in 2016. After a season-low 11 carries for just 41 yards in Week 6 vs. Green Bay, Williams had 25 carries and a touchdown.   “It was good to give Schotty the confidence to keep calling the runs," Williams said. "He made a big emphasis on that this week.”   The more Williams got the ball, the better he was.   “He's a guy you got to get in a groove and I think that's probably one of the frustrating things for him the last couple of weeks,” Dak Prescott said. “He's not getting that chance again and again to get in that groove or to turn some of those 2- yard runs into 6-yard runs and so on. And tonight he had that chance and when you follow that offensive line, trust them, trust those blocks, that's the production you want to get.”

The music was loud when the Cowboys entered their locker room after the win at Philadelphia. The cheers were louder when Brian Schottenheimer went through his customary celebration of all the big plays.   What does it feel like in a winning locker room after a two-game losing streak? Dak Prescott: “That's the time to celebrate. All the work that you've put in, a hard week of preparation, you take them one by one. You understand that you haven't won in a couple of weeks and some letdown games. It's just an exciting (time). It's the culmination of all your hard work and you winning that game just coming together and that's the brotherhood showing and that's what makes it special is it's just that group in there. It's just a group that sweats together, sacrifices together and they get to celebrate together. And so that's what makes it fun, but that time doesn't last. Short week being this is a Monday. Take care of our bodies and we've got to be just as hungry as we were in approaching this week, last week as we need to do this.”

If the Cowboys are to be in the NFC East race, Dak Prescott knew this was a much needed win vs. Eagles espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/5029…

From ESPN Research: this is the first time the Cowboys had had more than 200 yards rushing and passing against Philadelphia since Week 7 of the 1983 season.